WTF Wednesday || Triple J

Hi loveies!

It's Wednesday and while people refer to it as hump day, I like to call it WTF Wednesday. Why? Well usually by this time there are some things in the news that have you smh-ing, lol-ing, omg-ing, or staring at the computer/laptop/mobile device looking like you're trying to solve for X in a differntial equation with imaginary numbers.

And this, my dear friends, is why I will do the treacherous job of digging through all of this pop culture hullabaloo and recap some of my favorites in a segment called WTF Wednesday. Now before you go flying off the handle, WTF can mean whatever you want it to. Granted most of you are familiar with what conventional young adult online lexicon has it stand for, I'm leaving it up to you good people to decide what you want WTF to stand for. And remember, it can change every Wednesday. Maybe it's We Thank Fruitloops. I mean, who wouldn't want to say thanks to those delicious loops of not real fruit? Or Where's The Fries? Seriously, I shouldn't have to explain that one to you. Who doesn't wonder where fries are every now and again?

But today, WTF will stand for *drum roll please* Wasting The Financials but it could easily be replaced with What in The entire F***.

If you haven't watched, listened to, or read the news in the past week you may be a little confused if I share the name Jesse Jackson Jr. with you.  First thoughts may be "He was in the Jackson 5 right? Right?" Or maybe you're thinking he's some famous entertainer. I mean Triple J does sound like a wrestling name or at least a professional dog stylist for the Westminster Dog Show. Shout out to Banana Joe!

But what if I told you that Mr. Jesse Jackson Jr. is non other than the son of Rev. Jesse Jackson!  (I know, I know. I outdid myself with all of my detective work.) Oh, and he may have also swindled close to $1 million from the American people while he was a member of Congress who was on "medical leave" for most of his last term for an unspecified illness which was most likely a shopping addiction.



 Image Credit: The Google

Yes, close to $1 million. Well $750,000 to be exact but who doesn't like to round up? So you may ask yourself "Self, what could one person buy with $750,000 before they got caught?" Well... besides your own small island that you transplant yourself and your closest friends to and start a mini corgi farm because they are just so darn adorable; let me tell you what he supposedly (and I use that term loosely) bought.

List of Ridiculous Stuff to Spend $750,000 of Someone Else's Money On (SEMOn for short)

List of Ridculous Stuff to Spend $750,000 of SEMOn

1. A $46,000 Fedora that once belonged to Micheal Jackson (of no relation). Funny thing is, this fedora does nothing but just sit on his head. No dishes. No moon walking. No reading you a bedtime story. No showing you how to properly fold a fitted sheet. Nothing. I say he got ripped off, but that's just my opinion.
2. $43,000 Rolex Watch because anything less can't be trusted with telling time accurately.
3. Stuffed Elk Heads. To match the stuffed Elk butts he previously had on his mantel. I'm kidding, I have no clue why anyone would want to buy those.
4. $5,000 Fur Capes and Parkas. I feel as though a fur cape isn't the best choice when flying around Chicago as a super-hero. Seems a bit less than aerodynamic to me. Unless it was a live fur coat made of live flying squirrels. Then I can see that being a good investment. But alas, I read that they were various mink capes. *sad face*
5. $14,000 on dry cleaning. How else are you going to clean a live fur cape made of flying squirrels?
6. $61,000 on Restaurants, Night-Clubs, and Lounges.  At least he goes for the high class strip joints. Or just made someones night at the strip clubs that are probably sticky inside.
7. $5,000 football signed by some U.S. Presidents. I'm almost positive it had Taft's signature on it. And McKinley's. And Washington's.
8. $10,105 on Bruce Lee memorabilia. Seems pretty legit.

Way to go Triple J. Way to go.


Until Next Time...

Bloggin' on a Budget || Savings Week 8-9

Hi ya'll!

Hope you remembered to put your $8 (or $16 if you're doubling up like me) in the bank as a part of our 52 weeks of savings. If not it's not too late to add your Week 8 savings and you it's never too early to put in your Week 9 savings.

Some of you may be flying through this and thinking "$8 (or $16) a week is a piece of yummy homemade chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream icing. I can do this all year long". Then you happen to catch a glance at week 52 and you think you yourself. "Self, I'm not sure if I can do $49 (or $98), $50 (or $100), $51 (or $102), and $52 (or $104) during December of this year. That's $152 (or $304) during the month when I usually spend the most." Well before you start biting your nails down to the stub I have a solution for you.

Start backwards. Or jump around (jump up, jump up and get down). If you find yourself during week 10 with enough money to cover some of the later weeks, go ahead and put that in now and mark that week off of your list. As long as you hit all of the weeks before the end of the year, you'll end up putting in the exact same amount. So if you know that December you'll be strapped for cash, switch December for March. Or maybe you're going on vacation in September and won't have any extra money then? Swap April for September. Or random weeks for other random week. Hell, put all of the money in your account now when you get your tax refund and call it a  year day. I don't care how you do it as long as you do it!

Sound like a plan? Well get to it skippy!

Until next time...

My Worst [Hair] Nightmare

Well, this is probably second to me walking into a public bathroom and find that every single service is covered with multiple strands of random hair. And when I go to leave the bathroom the door knob too is covered with stray hair. THAT would be my worst hair nightmare.

But I digress. This is pretty horrible as well. I'm not sure how she didn't start crying before she stopped filming. I'm also not sure how high the heat was on that and why she was saying to leave it on for 20 seconds? But what I am sure of is that this will brighten your day. Maybe not for anything besides that fact that it didn't happen to you.

Poor girl.

Until next time...

Better Than Betty || Hit 'Em With The Flex

I, Karla With a K, am what you may call a Flexitarian. While the word sounds like something I just made up off of the fly, sadly I must admit that I'm not that witty. I've been dabbling in the world of vegetarianism for about two years now. I went 6-8 months straight vegetarian. But...then I had a craving for ribs and fried chicken and that went out the window. Before that I did a semi-vegetarian state where I ate vegetarian during the week and had meat (if I chose) on the weekends.

That's where I am now. It works for me and I've already slimmed out and feel less bloated after two weeks of going back at it. That could also be contributed to me being sick and not really eating for a week, but I digress. So you're probably asking yourself "Man, I wonder what she eats if she's not eating meat and what not."

Well... a lot of things. As you may or may not know, I tend to go through food phases where I get hoooked on one thing and go all in until I can't stand the sight, taste, or smell of it for a while. Right now my current obsession is sprouts. The brussel variety. Yup. I, Karla With a K, have an obsession with brussel sprouts. In fact, my dinner last night consisted entirely of roasted brussel sprouts. As well as my dinner last Thursday, Wednesday, and Tuesday.

But when I'm not eating brussel sprouts I eat pretty much everything else. Just not meat. Here's a breakdown of what I normally eat during the week.

Breakfast:

• Yogurt and Granola (my previous obsession. I ended up taking a break for about a month from it because I was getting sick of it but now it's back in the roatation.)
• Eggs/ Omlet with spinach and mushrooms (no, I do not count eggs as a meat. I follow the ovo-lacto vegetarian "guidelines" hence the dairy and eggs. Don't hate.)
• Granola Bar

Lunch/ Dinner:

• Soup: Black Bean, Tomato, Country Vegetable, Miso, Cabbage. I don't discriminate with soups. I love them all.
• Salad with black beans, kidney beans, corn, onions, tomatos, raspberry vinegar and olive oil
• Pizza/Pasta
• Sushi (noms)
• Brussel Sprouts
• Chips and Salsa
• Or whatever is around the house

Nothing special honestly. And nothing super fantastic, besides the brussel sprouts. Honestly, please go get some brussel sprouts and try them. Simply toss in olive oil, bake in a toaster oven at 375 for about 10 minutes until the top layer gets crispy, sprinkle with salt and pepper or whatever seasoning you're in the mood for, and enjoy. Seriously, if you don't like them, you're weird.

Until next time...

The 40 Day Diet

[Disclaimer: Religion is one of those things that gets people's panties in a huge bunch. These words below, and this entire blog, are my thoughts. Hate them, love them, they are mine that I choose to share with you. I mean no harm and hope not to offend. But if I do, please respond with care.]

Today is Wednesday. Also known as Hump Day. It just so happens to be the Wednesday that falls after the gluttonous holiday of Fat Tuesday, so you know what that means? Today is Ash Wednesday. Also the beginning of what seems to be the infamous "40 Day Diet" aka Lent.

For those of you who know understand the correlation, let me explain. Lent lasts 40 days and 40 nights. While it's original purpose was for the parishioners to get closer to God through a "preparation of the believer". This period consisted of prayer, of course, repenting sins, selfless giving to others for a religious purpose or rite and self-denial aka fasting. Fast forward some years (many) and Lent has been generalized as a period of time when giving up fats and sweets is the norm. Hence what I like to call the 40 Day Diet.

[EDIT: It was brought to my attention by a reader that it seems as though I was thinking Ash Wednesday being preceded by Fat Tuesday was some sort of coincidence. Wrong. I'm completely aware of the connection between Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. Simply put? Feast before fast. Carry on.]

How did everything change from worshipping and preparing for Easter to not eating fried foods?

Don't get me wrong. I myself have participated in many 40 Day Diets and remember giving up meat (last year), fried foods (the year before), and chocolate (a year in high school while I worked at a candy store). So I'm not knocking everyone who decided to give up facebook, coffee, sodas, fried foods or what have you. I'm just trying to figure out where things went awry. And why are we so focused on giving up things when Lent is supposed to involve many other aspects? I don't know, the whole giving to others thing strikes me as something that's worthy of participating in for 40 days and 40 nights. But that's just me. Maybe I'm the crazy one.

I remember a few years ago the thing I was "giving up" for Lent fell in line with this. I gave up my money. Now before you come after me with pitchforks or flip your desk over in confusion, let me explain myself. When people asked for donations, I gave them donations. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. In those 40 days I probably donated a total of $100 but I got so much more out of it. I helped people. Lots of people and organizations and foundations. I even gave $10 to a homeless man and his daughter who were begging for food. Were they really homeless? That's not for me to decide but for the one that they answer to at the end of the day. But before I start rambling, I'll wrap this bitty up.

If you're going to participate in Lent (and that's not for me to decide for you. I truly, could care less if you do or not), think about giving up something that will help someone else. Not as a way for you to fit into your bathing suit in a few months. Helping others is just as much as a way to better yourself as reducing your calories.

Oh. And it probably wouldn't hurt if you went and repented for those sins that you've done. You know... Mardi Gras, New Year's Eve, every Friday night? But again. I don't judge. It's not my place.

Until next time...